Let's Explore this Sea of Dreams
by xburner21
Summary: Ren's on a search for something, she isn't quite sure what, but she figures she'll know when she finds it. Join her on her adventure!
1. Chapter 1

_Two young children are talking with a red haired man. One child has a tight grip on the other child's hand._

_"You're really leaving this time?" The black haired boy, who's holding what seems to be a little girl's hand, asks the red haired man. _

_"Yeah. We've stayed here long enough. It's about time we move on. Are you two upset?" The boy's grip on the little girl's hand tightens. _

_"Yea, but we won't force you to take us along anymore. We'll become pirates by ourselves."  
_

_"Heh, I wouldn't take the both of you even if you begged me. You don't have what it takes to become pirates!" _

_The children gained fierce looks in their eyes before the black haired boy replied for the two of them._

_"Yes we do! One day we'll find ourselves a crew that is as strong as yours! And then we'll find the world's greatest treasure! And become King and Queen of the Pirates!"_

_The red haired man kneeled down. "Oh...! So you two are gonna be bigger than us, huh? Well than...This hat is my gift to the both of you. This is my favorite hat, you know...Ren, I want you to have this," with that being said the red haired man tied a black headband around the girl's, Ren's, wrist. _

_"When you become great pirates in the future you'll return those items to me."  
_

Deep red eyes shot open and looked around their surroundings. Ren's hand flew up to her forehead as she felt an intense headache coming. _It was that dream again...no it was a memory..._ She let out a grunt of pain. "Ngh!"

Ren looked down at her body and let out a deep sigh. Multiple bruises and gashes covered it in a dark, and bloody painting. The cause of these injuries were unknown. All she could remember was waking up to the blistering sun, on a piece of driftwood in the middle of the ocean. She shook her head to get rid of any unnecessary thoughts.

After somewhat cleaning up and treating most of her wounds, Ren walked into a town. Looking around at all the food stands, her stomach let out an enormous growl. People stopped and stared, bewildered. Ren sheepishly scratched the back of her head and gave a grin. "S-Sorry hehehe." When she looked up people continued their staring, it seemed like they haven't ever seen a person with white hair and red eyes. Well, it was only natural, Ren supposed. She remembered someone telling her albinos were rare. She just thought it was cool. 

Looking up, she noticed a woman drop something in the street as a blonde man was walking past her. He seemed angered and was about to hit her, but Ren dashed off and caught his punch. With her head bent down and headband creating shadows around her eyes, the man's knees started shaking. "W-what do you think you're doing?! This woman made me trip! Her punishment is execution!" The man was cowering by this point, but then, as if a light switched in his head, he grinned. 

"You know the punishment for defying or hitting me is death, so even if you left, this woman will still die." Ren froze in place. She didn't like the sound of that. His grin turned into a full blown smirk. He continued,"...unless of course, you want to take her place for a couple of months."

Ren sighed. _What a cowardly bastard. _As she looked back towards the woman, Ren noticed a little girl behind her. Turning back to face the little snot, Ren gave him a glare before holding out her wrists. "Fine," she muttered rather reluctantly.

As she walked forward with handcuffs on, Ren felt a sharp blow to her head from behind. The last thing she heard was the sound of annoying laughter and the sound of her body being dragged before she blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

_As Ren was walking forward with handcuffs on, she felt a sharp blow to her head from behind. The last thing she heard was the sound of annoying laughter and the sound of her body being dragged before she blacked out._

For once, Ren was overjoyed that animals were attracted to her or else she would've died from starvation. The rats brought chunks of bread for her and Ren was currently drinking water that was being poured into her mouth by a couple of birds.

"Thanks, guys!" Ren looked at the animals with wide, grateful smile. The animals swooned, not that Ren noticed, she just thought they were funny. They never failed to amuse her, the whole month she spent in the cells, chained to a wall.

Ren sighed. "Man, this is so boring! The only fun thing so that's happened so far is whenever that dumb guy turns weird colors."

"I wonder if that green-haired guy is still alive…"Ren mused.

_Ren was tied to a post in the courtyard before she was eventually taken inside to the cells. Ren was just lazily staring at the sky, enjoying the breeze, waiting for that dumb Helmeppo to show up, he always did if only to give her weak punches._

_Helmeppo marched up to her confinement and haughtily stared down at Ren. She looked up at him and grinned. "Hey Helmeppo." It was always funny to see Helmeppo's reaction, though they tended to be the same all the time, so it was kinda losing its appeal. Helmeppo reached back and smacked Ren across the face, thus giving her face, full of colorful bruises, another bruise. The slap made Ren's head turn, but there was no pain. She lifted her head and gave Helmeppo a shit-eating grin. He chose to ignore Ren in favor of turning to his companion, who escaped Ren's notice._

_"This is where you will spend your time here. If you can last a month, I'll let you go," Helmeppo said snottily. He then ran off somewhere. Ren finally noticed the stranger, who was taking in her bloody appearance. Ren greeted him with an eager grin._

_"Hey Mister! How are you?" As she was looking at him, while still grinning, Ren noticed he gave off a 'don't-mess-with-me' vibe, but she easily disregarded it. He finally answered her question, reluctantly. "...Fine." As Ren saw Helmeppo heading back towards their location, she looked back to the green-haired man. _

_"Hey, I heard Helmeppo say something about lasting a month, but don't worry I can tell you'll make it!" All of that was said with a grin. The man looked at Ren strangely as Helmeppo walked up to them and looked down at Ren's face as if he was a higher being. The marines then started cutting the ropes off Ren. _

_"Aren't you glad? You're new confinement area will be in the dirty cells!" The second the last of the ropes were off Ren, she fell down to the ground in a dirty mess. Even though she was face down in the dirt, Ren started laughing and replied to Helmeppo in an enthusiastic manner. "Ahaha, of course." She lifted her head off the ground and gave Helmeppo a grin. He looked at her with annoyance and anger and then proceeded to kick Ren's already injured ribs. She didn't show any sign of pain. _

_"I'll make sure to visit you later. Take him away!" The marines started dragging Ren by her feet, but she made sure to give the swordsman a grin before she fell asleep and was dragged away to the cells._

It's been about nine or ten days since that meeting occurred and Ren felt that something interesting would happen today.

Ren sighed again and closed her eyes. She heard the rats gather around her and opened her eyes, seeing them staring up at her with hearts for eyes. Some more birds squeezed through the barred windows and hovered around her. "Ahaha..."

* * *

Ren woke up from her nap, hearing a girl scream. She figured the girl was in trouble and concentrated, focusing on the strength in her arms, which were chained to the wall. She grabbed on a chain and started to crush it. The chain was shambles in her hand, but the shackle was still connected to her wrist. Having no time to worry about it, Ren started working on the other arm, in no time her arm was freed. She didn't have to worry about her legs. The idiot marines just tied them in rope. Ren held out her left hand, which started to glow a light green color. She swiped her hand through the ropes with a cutting motion. The ropes fell off in a neat slice. Ren rushed out of the cell and ran down the hallway.

Ren's senses led her to a group of marines about to harm an orange haired girl. "Hey! It's not nice to gang up on a girl. How about you fight me?" The marines wasted no time running toward Ren. There were about six of them, but she could take them.

Four of the marines surrounded Ren and aimed punches toward her face. Sadly, the only thing she had to do was bend down and they all knocked each other out. The last two marines were smart and didn't try the same tactic, instead one rushed Ren and kicked her stomach. She caught his kick and started spinning him around, until she finally let him go trashing down the hallway. The last marine was facing the girl and aimed his gun at her head. A shot went off and then there was a scream.

Ren managed to shove the girl out of the bullet's path, but got shot in her left shoulder. Ren fell to the floor, holding her shoulder to try and stop the blood flow. Her mind was racing. _'What if they see my mark? I would love to show it off...but...he said to make sure no one sees it….'  
_

While Ren was lost in her thoughts, the orange-haired girl beat up the marine with her staff. She turned to face Ren. "Hey! Thanks you saved my life..." Ren gave her a grin as she slowly stood up. "Ahaha, don't worry about it!"

Ren then turned to walk away. "Wait! My name's Nami! What's yours?" Ren was walking away as she turned her head and gave the girl a slight smile. "The name's Ren! See ya!" With that being said Ren rushed off, heading toward the town.

Once Ren entered the town, she stopped by a dark alleyway and entered it. She bandaged her wound and let out a sigh. "Geez, Helmeppo sure is stupid, I mean considering all the times he hit my chest he didn't notice it was bound, oh well! Now, I have to leave this island and start my search to find him, after I check up on that lady..." Ren stood up and headed toward that restaurant.

* * *

Ren made it to the beach and looked around for a boat, but didn't feel like stealing so she just got a piece of wood big enough for three people to lay down on. She looked into the water and in a few seconds a fish a school entered her vision. Ren smiled down at them and got an immediate reaction; they all got hearts in their eyes.

"Can you guys pull me along to the next island?" The fish couldn't respond verbally, but Ren took their eagerly, nodding heads as a yes. "Thanks!" Ren threw the wood onto the sea and jumped on top of it. The fish started pulling her along at a fast pace. Ren started grinning at the thought of a new journey starting.

* * *

"Bye! Thanks for the ride," Ren yelled out to the love struck fish as they dropped her off at some island. She started walking along the docks, with her hands resting on the back of her head when suddenly her stomach let out a deafening growl. Ren felt sweat dripping down her head when it felt like her stomach was starting to eat itself. As she felt herself come to a stopping point, she cursed.

"Damn! I'm hungry..." Her face connected with the wood beneath her as she collapsed.

_Ren was playing with three boys in a dirty dress. They all laughed together at what seemed to be something the two older boys said. Soon enough, a weird sensation overcame her body. She felt as if she was being forcibly pulled out of a pleasant dream. She was now surrounded by darkness. A crack of light was near and as Ren reached for it, images started flowing through her mind at a fast pace._

_Scar. Freckles. Curly. Top hat. Grey. Cane. Red hair. Sharp eyes. Cold, black eyes. Driftwood. Blazing fire. Red._

_The images started to slow down and the final thing Ren saw was a soaring dragon and a young boy with black hair and eyes similar to her own._

Ren's red eyes snapped open and she inhaled sharply. She slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath before re-opening them again. Ren noticed her head was resting on a shoulder and soon enough she met the gaze of silver eyes. She wasn't surprised by the act of a random stranger carrying her, but you she was pleasantly surprised by the neon green hair. Her face broke out into a shit eating grin. Then she started to chuckle.

"Haha! It's the Mister with the cool hair!" The green haired man seemed to tense up, but then relaxed as he came to some sort of decision.

"Ah! Did you escape too?" Ren asked. The green haired man gave a brief nod and then she continued on as enthusiastic as before.

"See? I told you, you would make it!" The swordsman continued onward without a word. Eventually, Ren's curiosity took over and decided to ask why he was carrying (helping) her.

"Hey, M-!" Ren got cut off before she could finish her inquiry.

"What's your name?" Ren was silent for a moment before chortling.

"Ahaha! It's not polite to ask for another person's name without stating your own!" He paused for a second before replying.

"My name's Roronoa Zoro. What's yours?" Ren stared at the back of his head blankly before giving him a smile he couldn't see.

"Hehe. My name's Ren! Nice to meetcha'!" Ren forgot what she was going to ask for a second before it came back to her.

"Hey, Zoro?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you helping me?"

He was silent for a moment before answering her question. "...Dunno, just felt like it."

Ren felt Zoro come to a stop and looked around. She was so busy staring at his hair, she didn't realize he was climbing up a roof! "I need to save my idiot captain that was captured by a huge bird and dropped off at this island."

Ren withheld the chuckle that was forcing its way out and settled for a snort.

"Pft. Your captain reminds me of someone I know…Do you want some help?" Zoro turned his head slightly at her choice of words. She was offering her help. She didn't think he needed it.

"...Sure, why not." And that was the moment the action started. As the two of them flipped onto the roof, Ren immediately noticed the crowd of men surrounding a girl. Zoro rushed into action and blocked all the attacks directed at the girl.

"Just how many of you are charging one girl?" Zoro asked rather angrily.

"Ah! Zoro!" Ren's attention was immediately drawn toward the boy with a straw hat. When she caught a glimpse of his scar, she was stunned. His scar caused Ren to feel a strong sense of nostalgia. A disbelieving grin made itself apparent on her face before a sly, smirk took its place.

Ren slowly walked toward Luffy's cage. She came to a stop right before it and crouched down. Ren's hair masked the top half of her face and Luffy bluntly asked, "Who are you?"

Her hand slowly made its way to her bangs, pushing them aside while she teased Luffy. "You would think to remember the future Pirate King and co-owner of that hat wouldn't you, Luffy?" Ren's red eyes were revealed and she peered into Luffy's shocked eyes with a moronic grin.

"Ren!" He seemed to make a move forward, but he was hindered by the metal cage's bars. He then started to whine. "I would hug you, but I'm stuck!"

Shouting caused Ren to turn away from Luffy, and face the commotion behind her. There seemed to be a big nose pirate wanting to fight Zoro. "If you don't show your true skills now, you'll soon be covered in blood!"

Zoro prepared his swords. "Fine, if that's what you want...!" He rushed forward and cleanly sliced through the pirate, seemingly killing him.

Luffy's shouting caused Ren to glance back at him. "Huh?! That guy's so weak?!" Luffy dismissed this and called out to Zoro. "Hey, Zoro! Hurry and get me outta this thing!"

"Okay." Once Zoro reached the cage, he inspected it. "This thing won't open without a key. These iron bars won't slice."

"That's true."

The pirates around the trio started laughing and Ren frowned. Zoro glanced back, irritated. "What's so funny?! Just give us the key! I don't want to fight you guys."

"They're pretty weird..." Luffy observed. Ren was confused. Why were they laughing? There wasn't anything humorous for them in their situation. It seemed like the guy that died was their captain. Then it hit her. _When he was sliced there wasn't any blood._

From the corner of her eyes, Ren saw a detached hand fly towards Zoro. Her eyes widened before she broke out into a small run. Ren pushed Zoro out of the way and felt a sharp pain in her side as she crashed onto the ground.

"REN!" Luffy shouted as she looked down at herr wound through squinting eyes.

"What?!The hand?" The girl Zoro saved, screamed. The surrounding pirates continued to laugh as Luffy looked on with worry.

"Ngh!" Ren gasped for breath as the offending hand was roughly, pulled out her body.

"I ate the Bara Bara no Mi. No matter how you try to slice me up, you can't because I'm a sectioned man!" The clown pirate was starting to get on Ren's nerves.

"Sectioned man? That guy's a monster!" Luffy commented. Ren started laughing, but it soon subsided into panting.

"Ahaha...ha...ha...I don't think you...can talk...Luffy..."

"I see I missed your vitals! But it's still a serious injury, which means this'll be an easy win!"

Ren slowly got up and leaned against the side of Luffy's...containment before giving the pirate a grin. "Oi, oi, oi. Don't count me out just yet." Just as she was about to take a step forward, Luffy yelled out, "Stabbing from the back, that's dirty! You big nose!" The pirate crew was stunned into silence, but her laughing broke it.

"Ahahahahaha!"

"That idiot, he could have said anything but that...!"

"Who're you calling a big nose!?" The clown was enraged and made his arm, which was holding the knife, fly towards Luffy. Ren got into a position, ready to catch the soaring blade, but Luffy nudged her out of the way and caught it in between his teeth.

"I swear, I'm gonna take you down!" It was an amazing feat; grinning with a knife in his mouth.

The clown was amused. He obviously thought this was the funniest thing he has ever heard of, based upon his annoying laughter. "Oho...take me down? You four are gonna take me down? How are you gonna do that in this situation? You are all going to die on the spot!"

Ren's breathing was labored and blood was starting to seep through her mouth, but throughout her pain, she still kept a grin on her face. It did not diminish even with the clown's taunting words. Luffy started laughing and she glanced at him.

"Ren, Zoro! Run away!"

Ren and Zoro shared confused glances before it hit the both of them.

"…Okay." Zoro rushed off and Ren followed at a somewhat slower pace.

"Stop! You think I'm gonna let you go?!" The clown pirate launched his arms towards Zoro, but Zoro ducked between his legs and Ren blocked the arms with her right arm. The clown's arms were knocked off course, giving Zoro enough time to lift a canon so it could face the pirates and Ren moved out the way, grabbing the girl so she wouldn't be in danger.

The pirates went crazy. "Aaahhck! THAT THING STILL HAS A BUGGY BALL IN IT!"

"I need a light! Hurry!" Zoro demanded from the girl. She seemed caught off guard and flustered. "Huh? Oh…Yes!" She lit the canon and then there was a big blast, blowing everything out of its way.

As Ren dragged herself back towards Luffy's cage, the girl Zoro saved stopped her. "Ah! Aren't you that guy, Ren, who saved me?" The girl softly questioned her. Ren gave her a blank look and then her left shoulder twitched with a dull ache to remind her. Ren gave the girl a slight smile before nodding.

As Zoro tried to figure out how to get Luffy out, he questioned the girl. "Who are you anyways?"

"I'm...I'm a thief," she said apprehensively in a reluctant manner.

Luffy grinned brightly. "She's our new navigator!"

"You're an idiot, aren't you?! If you've got time to say things like that then how about thinking of a way to get outta that cage?!"

Luffy was not deterred. "Hey, that's a good idea...I'll do that."

Ren discretely put her hands behind her back and they glowed with a faint green color. The mysterious glow disappeared within a few seconds and she stumbled forward with a confident grin.

"No, it's okay. You just stay in that cage!" She reached for the iron bars and slowly started her way across the roof, ignoring the blood slipping down her body and Nami's and Zoro's stunned faces.

When Ren reached the edge of the roof, her muscles clenched tightly before throwing Luffy's cage through the air and jumping off. The others followed shortly after.

Luffy was blankly watching Ren as she tried to continue dragging the cage. She was heaving the cage with all her might and her eyes held determination even with her gasping breaths.

A push from behind halted her movements. Zoro briefly glanced at Ren before he started to drag the cage further along the empty street. She staggered onward and followed without any complaint, too much blood was seeping through her wound. Soon enough, the pirates reached a spot in the town that was a far enough gap between their group and the Buggy pirates. Ren plopped herself down onto the ground.

"We're now quite far away from the pub. They won't be able to catch up with us immediately now. Our escape was done okay, but this cage is starting to annoy me!"

"Yeah. If this thing doesn't open even though all those bad guys come I can't even attempt to fight them!" Luffy started to gnaw on the bars, but Ren was too tired to even attempt to laugh. She closed her eyes and started to nod off while ignoring all the events around her. It wasn't until she heard, "Hey! You people! Don't pick on Shushu!" that she tried to sit up. An arm came into her view and pushed her down. Ren's red eyes traveled up the arm and met its owner. Zoro was staring at her injured form.

"Shushu? Who're you Mister?"

"I'm the village's leader, Boodle, or in other words the chief!"


End file.
